State issues Rs 2 crore to construct new Chunabhatti police station

The structure will be set up near Priyadarshini Circle; move comes in the wake of several protests by residents of a housing complex at Chunabhatti where the station now stands

After three years and over 50 applications to the state government and the Mumbai police, residents of Devratna Nagar, a housing complex in Chunabhatti, has finally won a long-standing battle.

The Chunabhatti police station at Devratna Nagar. Pic/Satyajit Desai

Reason: the Chunabhatti police station that was in their society compound will now be shifted to Priyadarshini Circle near Chembur. Last week, the state government issued an order stating the same. The residents are now a happy lot as they allege the police station in their complex was a nuisance to them.

Deepak Mhatre, a resident of Devratna Nagar, told sunday mid-day, “In 2008, when there were numerous cases of rape and murder in the jurisdiction of Nehru Nagar police station, the state government decided to set up the Chunabhatti police station within our complex.”

He alleged that, initially, cops claimed that the station was set up on a temporary basis while authorities looked for an appropriate place to construct the station. But they never moved out. “We wrote letters to the chief minister, home minister and even the Mumbai police commissioner to shift the police station as it was a nuisance for us.

Cops would get several criminals to our premises and school-going children witnessed it all. When they would ask us who these people were, we didn’t know what to tell them,” added Mhatre. Another resident said, on condition of anonymity, that the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA) officials never informed them that a police station would be constructed within the complex.

“If we had known, we would have had second thoughts before buying a flat here,” he said. Dennis Pais, another resident of Devratna Nagar, alleged, “Cops would occupy the whole parking space and it was difficult for us to park our cars.

They even dumped their seized cars in the building’s garden and outside the complex, causing a traffic jam in our area.” When contacted, Senior Police Inspector Dattatray Naykodi of Chunabhatti police station confirmed the news but refused to divulge further details about when the police station would be shifted.